griggs's - 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die List

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This Academy Award nominated classic, directed by George Lucas and produced by Francis Ford Coppola, features the coming of age of four teenagers on their last summer night before college.

Rediscover drag racing, driveins and Inspiration Point in this nostalgic look back at the early '60s that also brings you an incredible soundtrack with the most memorable rock 'n' roll hits of the era. Starring Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard and Charlie Martin Smith, American Graffiti captures the heart and spirit of America's last age of innocence.

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Trickery. Deceit. Magic. In 'F for Fake', a free-form sort-of documentary by Orson Welles, the legendary filmmaker (and self-described charlatan) gleefully reengages with the central preoccupation of his career: the tenuous lines between illusion and truth, art and lies.

Beginning with portraits of the world-renowned art forger Elmyr de Hory and his equally devious biographer, Clifford Irving, Welles embarks on a dizzying journey that simultaneously exposes and revels in fakery and fakers of all stripes - not the least of whom is Welles himself. Charming and inventive, 'F for Fake' is an inspired prank and a clever examination of the essential duplicity of cinema.

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Made under the Franco regime, Victor Erice's astonishing 1973 feature debut is quite simply one of the most remarkable, influential and purely poignant films to emerge from the 1970's. A bona-fide classic of European cinema, the film brought Erice instant and widespread acclaim.

An audacious critique of the disastrous legacy of the Spanish Civil War, 'The Spirit of the Beehive' is set in a rural 1940's Spanish village haunted by betrayal and regret. Following a travelling cinema's screening of James Whale's Frankenstein, seven year-old Ana (the mesmerising Ana Torrent, later to grow into an international star of some standing) becomes fascinated with Boris Karloff's monster. Obsessed with meeting the initially gentle creation, she transfers her entrancement to tending a wounded army deserter. Atmospherically rendered by legendary Director of Photography Luis Cuadrado, it's impeccably performed by both Torrent and veteran actor Fernando Fernan Gomez in the role of her emotionally scarred, bee-keeping father. Existing in a highly evocative dreamlike state, it's a powerfully symbolic, richly allegorical tale that is as unique as it is beautiful.

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Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel star as Johnny Boy and Charlie; Italian-American cousins and small time criminals hustling, fighting and carousing, doing whatever it takes to survive in the mean streets of New York.

Johnny Boy spends his life getting into trouble, leaving Charlie to get him out of it. Charlie wants to rise up in the local mafia, but when Johnny Boy reneges on a debt, the local loan shark seeks revenge.

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On a cold, bright autumn day in Suffolk, England, a little girl in a red mackintosh drowns in a pond-the daughter of John (Donald Sutherland) and Laura Baxter (Julie Christie).

Trying to recover from the tragedy, the couple arrive in Venice, Italy, where John has been commissioned to restore a church. In the eerie atmosphere of the lagoon city in winter, they encounter two strange sisters. Laura is suddenly released from her grief when one of them, a blind psychic, tells her that she is in contact with her dead daughter. Angered and sceptical, John carries on with his work, but witnesses an unsettling vision of his own: a little girl in a red mackintosh disappearing into the Venetian alleys. As Venice and his fate close in on John, illusion, reality and sudden terror spiral the story to its grotesque climax.

In 1959, Kit (Martin Sheen) who has killed several people, and his new girlfriend Holly (Sissy Spacek), who watched him do it, are adrift in a double fantasy of crime and punishment across South Dakota and Montana. They're playing make-believe but the bullets and bloodshed are very real...

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A plainclothes street patrolman, Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) might be the best cop in New York, but he's unwilling to play dirty and give into the police corruption surrounding drugs, violence, and kickbacks that his colleagues indulge in every day.

When he decides to expose those around him, Frank finds himself a target - not just to the city's criminals, but to his own peers.

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When a young girl mysteriously disappears, Police Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) travels to a remote island to investigate.

But this pastoral community, led by the strange Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee), is not what it seems as the devout Christian detective soon uncovers a secret society of wanton lust and pagan blasphemy. Can Howie now stop the cult's ultimate sacrifice before he himself comes face to face with the horror of 'The Wicker Man'?

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Imprisoned on infamous Devil's Island, Papillon (Steve McQueen) is obsessed with the idea of freedom. Together with his friend Dega (Dustin Hoffman), Papillon ceaselessly works on means of escape, his spirit refusing to be broken by savage and humiliating treatment from their captors.

One of the few epic films which more than lives up to the promise of the greatest best seller on which it is based - aided by the unforgettable performances of Hoffman and McQueen. A must-see classic!

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When cryogenically preserved Miles Monroe (Woody Allen) is awakened 200 years after a hospital mishap, he discovers the future's not so bright: All women are frigid, all men are impotent, and the world is ruled by an evil dictator: a disembodied nose! Pursued by the secret police and recruited by

anti-government rebels with a plan to kidnap the dictator's snout before it can be cloned, Miles falls for the beautiful - but untalented - poet Luna (Diane Keaton). But when Miles is captured and reprogrammed by the government to believe he's Miss America, it's up to Luna to save Miles, lead the rebels and cut off the nose…just to spite its face.

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A proud woman in red draws leers and admiration. A bosomy tobacconist sparks the fantasies of adolescent boys. A mentally challenged uncle takes refuge in a tree and announces: "I want a woman!" They are among moments and events knit by memory...and a legendary filmmaker in peak form.

'Amarcord', which means "I Remember", is Federico Fellini's lusty, often funny look at growing-up perhaps not unlike his own. The setting is a village in 1930's Italy. Teen hormones are surging. Family, church and friendship are proving grounds of love and loyalty. Fascism's rise is just down the street. Sex is around any corner. And life viewed in the local cinema is a touchstone for life lived. The memories, big and small, endure.

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Set in the 1930's this intricate comedy caper deals with an ambitious small time crook (Robert Redford) and a veteran con man (Paul Newman) who seeks revenge on the vicious crime lord (Robert Shaw) who murdered one of their gang.

How this group of charlatans puts "the sting" on their enemy makes for the greatest double-crosses in movie history, complete with an amazing surprise finish.

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Brace yourself as one of the all-time spellbinders possesses you all over again.

Director William Friedkin and producer/screenwriter William Peter Blatty have revisited The Exorcist to integrate 11 minutes of scenes and images deleted before the film's 1973 release and digitally restore the picture and audio elements. The result is an experience more gripping than ever. Now seen are moments deepening the impact of the performances by Linda Blair, Ellen Burstyn, Jason Miller, Max von Sydow and Lee J. Cobb. They include a "nervous disorder" dianosis, expansion of Father Merrin's arrival before the ritual, priestly doubts during the ritual, an epilogue with Lt. Kinderman and Father Dyer and most notably, a shattering staircase descent by Regan. Winner of Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and Sound, The Exorcist astonishes time and again like no other movie.

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"My name is Jim, but most people call me...Jim". And most people call Blazing Saddles deliriously funny.

Filmmaker, star and paddle-ball whiz Mel Brooks goes way out West and way out of his mind with a spiffy spoof set in an 1874 Old West where 1974 Hollywood is just one soundstage away-and where nonstop fun blasts prejudices to the high comedy heavens. Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Slim Pickens, Harvey Korman, Madeline Kahn and more join for horseplay and horselaughs, making Blazing Saddles the # 6 choice among the American Film Institute's Top-100 Comedies. Give these out to the boys in Lieu of pay. And enjoy

Emmi (Brigitte Mira), a widowed cleaning lady in her sixties, meets Ali (El Hedi ben Salem), a Moroccan immigrant in his thirties. Seeking companionship, the pair marry to the outrage Emmi's family (including Fassbinder himself as her aggressive son-in-law), herfriends and her colleagues.